Overview of the research into our family history
An early photograph of the author, David Harvey and his wife Christine taken in the early 1970's. The photograph was taken at my wife's family home at 121 Boyne Road, Sheldon, Birmingham, Warwickshire, UK
An attempt has been made to trace our ancestors back to the early 1800's and where possible earlier dates. This has not been without it's difficulties and has at times proved to be very frustrating. Anyone who has undertaken research into family history will fully understand the difficulties. Also included in our research are details of the author's sister, Gertrude (Trudie) Ellen Harvey from his father's first marriage.
I originally had the idea of creating this web site way back in 2010. On this site are my findings during researching our family history. When I began the research into our family history back in 2006 I had not thought about publishing the history. However, as more facts emerged it became clear that at some stage I would need to document the whole work.
This journey through our family history has been very surprising on occasions and in some instances quite upsetting. At times we have exposed or recalled childhood memories that have long been buried which, when recalled, have reminded us that at the time the event was sometimes quite painful. Also, the recollection of these events or circumstances can still generate emotion and anguish even years afterwards.
The aim in putting all this into a published form is that at some time in the future, our children or their children will gain some insight into their roots and maybe use this history as a platform to continue the research. In addition to documenting and publishing our family history it also serves to highlight or reveal the social and economic conditions that prevailed at the time.
The journey has taken us throughout the length and breadth of the British Isles. We discovered that we both had ancestors that had lived and died in midland workhouses. We've been on genealogical excursions into the USA, Australia and Canada, Germany as well as researches into early military history, Victorian conflicts, WW1 and WW2 - none of the foregoing we would never have dreamed of when we began.
It would probably have been easier to use a commercially available package and draw out a family tree and add notes. That seemed cold and clinical. However, we have included family ancestor trees for both the Harvey and Caisley families for completeness. Also included is an ancestor chart showing the author's sister's ancestors from the author's father's first marriage. The people listed in this history were "real" people who had to face some difficult times, and as such we believe that they are worth making some real effort to record their history. Where possible photographs of our ancestors have been included. Details of ancestors names, residence, occupation and birthplace have been obtained from census returns spanning a number of years typically the 1851 census though to the 1911 census. Information from the 1841 Census has been treated with caution due to the poor legibility on some records. Furthermore the information on this particular census is questionable in some instances.
We also found a number of anomalies in the recording of written or spelling of surnames, also in an individual's birthplace between census years. A page has been added in the "Acknowledgements, Sources of information, Errors and Omissions" section called "Conflicts of Information" which highlights particular irregularities in information obtained during our research.
Where possible movement of individual families between census years has been obtained from electoral / voting lists.
Sources of information are shown on each page. Where appropriate to do so details have been cross checked from a number of sources these being shown on a separate page under "Acknowledgements, Sources of information, Errors and Omissions"
It's inevitable that there will be mistakes in some of the details and we apologize now if anyone finds the presentation of any information difficult or misleading. The research started some years ago and is a never ending task. However, with advancing years it now seems appropriate to set in print the progress to date. The author may never finish this journey but at least he can say he made an attempt.
An attempt has been made to trace our ancestors back to the early 1800's and where possible earlier dates. This has not been without it's difficulties and has at times proved to be very frustrating. Anyone who has undertaken research into family history will fully understand the difficulties. Also included in our research are details of the author's sister, Gertrude (Trudie) Ellen Harvey from his father's first marriage.
I originally had the idea of creating this web site way back in 2010. On this site are my findings during researching our family history. When I began the research into our family history back in 2006 I had not thought about publishing the history. However, as more facts emerged it became clear that at some stage I would need to document the whole work.
This journey through our family history has been very surprising on occasions and in some instances quite upsetting. At times we have exposed or recalled childhood memories that have long been buried which, when recalled, have reminded us that at the time the event was sometimes quite painful. Also, the recollection of these events or circumstances can still generate emotion and anguish even years afterwards.
The aim in putting all this into a published form is that at some time in the future, our children or their children will gain some insight into their roots and maybe use this history as a platform to continue the research. In addition to documenting and publishing our family history it also serves to highlight or reveal the social and economic conditions that prevailed at the time.
The journey has taken us throughout the length and breadth of the British Isles. We discovered that we both had ancestors that had lived and died in midland workhouses. We've been on genealogical excursions into the USA, Australia and Canada, Germany as well as researches into early military history, Victorian conflicts, WW1 and WW2 - none of the foregoing we would never have dreamed of when we began.
It would probably have been easier to use a commercially available package and draw out a family tree and add notes. That seemed cold and clinical. However, we have included family ancestor trees for both the Harvey and Caisley families for completeness. Also included is an ancestor chart showing the author's sister's ancestors from the author's father's first marriage. The people listed in this history were "real" people who had to face some difficult times, and as such we believe that they are worth making some real effort to record their history. Where possible photographs of our ancestors have been included. Details of ancestors names, residence, occupation and birthplace have been obtained from census returns spanning a number of years typically the 1851 census though to the 1911 census. Information from the 1841 Census has been treated with caution due to the poor legibility on some records. Furthermore the information on this particular census is questionable in some instances.
We also found a number of anomalies in the recording of written or spelling of surnames, also in an individual's birthplace between census years. A page has been added in the "Acknowledgements, Sources of information, Errors and Omissions" section called "Conflicts of Information" which highlights particular irregularities in information obtained during our research.
Where possible movement of individual families between census years has been obtained from electoral / voting lists.
Sources of information are shown on each page. Where appropriate to do so details have been cross checked from a number of sources these being shown on a separate page under "Acknowledgements, Sources of information, Errors and Omissions"
It's inevitable that there will be mistakes in some of the details and we apologize now if anyone finds the presentation of any information difficult or misleading. The research started some years ago and is a never ending task. However, with advancing years it now seems appropriate to set in print the progress to date. The author may never finish this journey but at least he can say he made an attempt.
Please note that this site is still under construction. Data will change and pages will be added / deleted as work progresses. Please check back at frequent intervals to see progress and any updates. Last review 8/7/2020